Reunion
by Special FX
Summary: One day, Ylva decides to accompany old man Leif on his trips to find her little brother.


Ylva hasn't seen her little brother in years, so she doesn't realize it at first, but when the boy in front of her says her name, the memories all come flooding back at once.

Her brother is taller now, but not by much, and he still only barely reaches up to her neck. Gone is the happy-go-lucky attitude her brother always used to have, he is a lot more reserved now, cold and distant even. Her little brother has grown into someone that doesn't even bat an eye at having killed someone else in cold blood, almost as if it were routine, and that scares her.

The group of men that gathered around them whisper among themselves, of a _"Thorfinn Karlsefni"_, of a battle-hardened boy that defeated a great warrior by the name of _"Thorkell the Tall" _in a duel. She hears them speak of a young boy that has fought in battles she had never even heard of before. Ylva thinks to herself that her little brother and that boy in the stories couldn't possibly be the same person, but her protests die in her throat when she sees her little brother's eyes.

Ylva watches as her brother speaks with old Leif about _Vinland_, about the faraway place that her father always used to talk about. There is no longer any light in her little brother's eyes, and a perpetual scowls now rests on his face. Ylva hates what her little brother has become, and has to fight back the urge to slap him upside the head.

When her little brother refuses old man Leif's pleas to return home with them, that's when she can't hold it back any longer.

"Thorfinn!"

Her brother's eyes widen at her shouting, as if he had all but forgotten she was even there.

"Thorfinn…" Ylva says, quieter this time. "Come back with us, Thorfinn. I understand how you feel, but it's enough. Father wouldn't want you take revenge for his sake."

Ylva realizes those were the wrong words to say much too late. She watches as the cold expression her brother wears changes in a flash. No longer is there a dead look in his eyes, and instead, they're now more akin to a blazing inferno. There is a strange glint in his eyes, one that reminds her of the Jomsviking warriors that had once come to their village oh so long ago.

"Understand…? What would you know Ylva!?" Thorfinn all but shouts. "How could you understand?!"

Thorfinn steps forward and Ylva finds herself instinctively taking a step back.

"How could you understand…? When the reason father died was because of _me_!" Her brother continues to yell. "If I hadn't snuck into the ship… If I hadn't been taken hostage by those bastards… Father would still be alive!"

Her brother is shaking now, and Ylva raises a tentative hand forward. Thorfinn slaps her hand away, and she flinches back, as if struck.

"As long as Askeladd still lives, it will never be enough!"

Those words root her in place. The face that her little brother wears is no longer one that she recognizes. It is that of a Jomsviking warrior, of a man that doesn't hesitate to kill someone at the drop of a hat. It is that of a broken man that will stop at nothing until he gets his revenge. It hurts her heart to think that this is the same person that used to be her merry little brother.

Thorfinn only glares at her and turns away to leave without another word.

Her eyes starts to blur, so she doesn't realize it at first, but then her face starts to feel wet. Ylva hasn't cried since the death of their father and she hates that she starts crying now. As she watches her little brother's back grow smaller and smaller in the distance, she thinks to herself, she really hates how this world managed to twist her merry little brother into someone like that.

Ylva wipes the tears from her face and takes a deep breath before she faces old man Leif again. She puts on a plastic smile on her face.

"It's alright, Leif." Ylva says, with the same detached voice she first used when her father passed. "Let's just go back home."

* * *

**Author's Notes- **Because Vinland Saga has recently become one of my all-time favorites and I need to get my fix in between the weeks as I wait for new episodes. There aren't enough Vinland fics too, so I'm throwing my hat into the ring!


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